That's what it means!

Concert pianist Vladimir Horowitz played a dissonant contemporary composition at a private gathering. When he had finished, someone asked, "I just don't understand what that composition means, Mr. Horowitz. Could you please explain?" Without a word, Horowitz played the composition again, turned to his questioner, and announced, "That's what it means!" in Philip Kapleau, Awakening to Zen

The truth about food and zen retreats

"... I will opt for a more modest regimen: three weeks of tea and miso broth.

I am not trying to be macho. I am genuinely curious about the nature of desire. My whole life has been spent chasing one desire after another. Where does it come from and how does it control me? What happens if i don't follow each desire that comes into my mind? What happens if i don't eat for a short period?

What happens is what any idiot could have guessed would happen: i am ravenously hungry. ...There's no way to get around this feeling of hunger. No way to avoid the pangs in my stomach and the intense desire for a taste of bread, of butter, of anything. I make many cups of miso broth and tea each day. My mind is almost exclusively on food-related topics. I alternate between the mantra and visions of lasagna, pumpkin pie, and chocolate honey-dipped crullers. I write a few imaginary cookbooks and open an imaginary Zen restaurant called Cafe Joju.

What happened to all those other desires? Love, enlightenment, adventure, fame... All leveled to nothing. All extraneous. I only want food. Food in my tongue, taste in my mouth. I don't care what taste it is.

Food is life.
Why am i alive?
What is this life for?
What will i do with it?"
Jane Dobisz, The Wisdom of Solitude

Burn burn burn

"The only people for me are the mad ones,
the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved,
desirous of everything at the same time,
the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing,
but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles
exploding like spiders across the stars."
Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Always a full moon

It's always a full moon: it's always a good day.
Even though just a crescent shows, it's there.
It's just not lit - there's a shadow.
Eido Roshi

It will never die

"This body is no more stable than a bubble: it will soon disappear.
But any efforts made for the sake of truth will never die."
Zen Master So Sahn, The Mirror of Zen

Til the water is clear

"Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?"
Lao Tse, Tao Te Ching